"All children are gifted.
Some just open their presents later than others." ---unknown

Friday, September 14, 2007

Thrilling Thursday

OK, maybe I lead you on yesterday by promising a Thrilling Thursday. Sorry. But, I'd rather have a run-of-the-mill Thursday than a pull-my-hair-out Thursday!

Let me get my D.J. report out of the way. The morning actually started out wonderfully! He was perfectly still and quiet during Read Aloud time. (I always read from a series of children's books by Barbara Parks about a kindergarten girl named Junie B. Jones. If you've never heard of them, and you have children, you should seek them out. I promise, your kids will love them. My students can never get enough, and I've been using them for years. Barbara Parks writes the stories from Junie B.'s point of view, and uses the most wonderful, authentic 5 year-old language. I can't say enough about this series! But, for your sake, I'll stop here!) D.J. obviously enjoys hearing about Junie B.'s adventures. He really, for the most part, had a great morning. Even after lunch went smoothly. There were a few moments during rest time that were a little iffy, but his shoes stayed on!! He obviously was trying hard to be still and quiet, and when I turned the lights on, he came up to me and told me he had gone to sleep. I don't think he really did, but it didn't really matter. I was proud of him for doing what was expected of him, and he seemed pretty proud of himself. Now that I'm thinking back on the day, I don't really remember having any major incidents with him at all. Good job, D.J.!

The art bags were a smashing success! Yay! The kids were so excited to be taking them to art today. It was adorable! I love how happy the little things can make them. Plus, they're getting a little taste of responsibility by having to take care of these bags, and make sure everything is put back in them after art and so on. Now, I just hope no one takes them home.

I was able to spend some time making labels today with the kids' names to put around the room in various places. I've been putting off making the "official" labels because we still have kids randomly showing up throughout the week. Wouldn't you know it, the minute I finished typing out my class list, assigning a number to each child, sending the list down for copies, making name plates for the table, art bags, etc. I get a new kid! Well, now N.A. is number 24, instead of number 1, where she should be alphabetically. I always assign my kids numbers because it makes so many other things easier. We can label things quickly by just using a number instead of a name. For my babies who have difficulty with their names still, it's usually easier to write a number, so I ask my kids to put both on their papers. This way, if I can't make out the name, I can at least figure out who the paper belongs to. Plus, when done correctly, it makes alphabetizing my kids files, papers, report cards, and such, so much easier. But, without fail, I always get a few students after the start of the year, so they just get added at the bottom and have to take the next number available. I've been promising my kids that I would put their names on the tables, on the coat hooks, on the mailboxes, and on our assorted charts around the room. They were very excited today to see their names on the tables. And, I must admit, it adds to the "cute" factor of the room.

Good grief, I managed to even bore myself tonight with this dribble about school. Let's get to the quote:

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.---Abraham Lincoln

I have no idea why I have this quote among my "educational quotes" but since I'm sure reading the above felt like it took 6 hours, I figured, what the heck! Speaking of 6 hours, that's all that's left of school for the week. Tomorrow's Friday! Yahoo! See you there!